A Slip Of The Tongue
by RainbowSquiddle
Summary: Dave Strider labels everyone, in attempt to keep himself detached from the real world, and for good reason, too. But of course, that can't last forever. What happens when he comes across a girl he can't seem to be able to label? And ultimately, what are the consequences?
1. Reluctant

_**A/N: Aaand, I'm back. Gosh, that didn't take all that long, did it? It's only been a little over a week since I posted the ending to my last Homestuck fanfiction. Okay, well! To start, thanks for clicking, and if you're reading this part, thank you so much for actually bothering to read the author's note instead of just skipping right down to the story. If you've read my past work, hello again, nice to see you again, and if not, nice to /meet/ you, I hope you find my writing to your liking. Okay, okay, enough formal talk, down to the stuff that's actually important. First, in contrast to my last story, this is a /short/ story, it will be between 8 to 10 chapters, at most. Second, this is my first time writing in the point of view of a Strider, so try not to hate on me if I'm not very good at first. Third, in this story, I've decided to make Bro and Dirk two separate characters. Which is far from canon, obviously, but I'm not writing in canon. This is an AU. Last, and most important, this is something new I'm trying out. A completely different AU. Unlike my last story, which was a perfectly normal highschool love story, this AU is actually based off the TV show Supernatural- now wait, don't click away. It's not a crossover of any sort. The idea /spawned/ from the show. The point is, this is a world in which monsters exist, and there are hunters out there, who dedicate their lives to killing off the monsters. As you may have guessed, Dave, the main character, along with his siblings, are part of all that. And that's as far as I can say, and I think that's it! Happy reading, I suppose!**_

"Tell me again why the fuck I'm doing this?"

"Don't you _ever_ wanna prove yourself to bro?"

"Who cares? It's not like he's around to see."

Silence.

It wasn't a sad silence, or an awkward silence.  
Just a silence made out of pure aggravation.  
That was how this family rolled.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my bro. It wasn't a begrudging statement. Though, I didn't care if Dirk saw it that way. He'd go off thinkin'  
'aw shit, Dave has a thing against bro, what the fuck am I gonna do' only to find out that I was never sporting a grudge in the first place, I was just making the statement because it was the truth.

Leading him to think I felt something against bro that I never felt in the first place, had much more irony to it than just outwardly saying what I meant.

"Do you feel this conversation is really necessary?" Rose sighed, not taking the time to glance up from her book.

"Don't you think it would be less stressful if you'd just get out of the car, Dave? We do not really have time for laggards at this point."

"I'm not lagger-ing. Whatever the fuck that means." I replied.

"I'm just stating facts."

Okay, confused yet?

I bet you've got a lot of questions.

To name a few things that may or may not be going through your mind "why does Dave have to get out of the car?"

"What _exactly_ does he have to prove to his mentioned bro?"

"Who's the bitchy chick in the back seat?"

Well, let me tell you, those are all valid questions, my friend. But it's a bit more complicated than just spouting out a couple of half-assed answers.

Sometimes you just gotta dig deeper, and there's no way around it.

First of all, (you've probably guessed this, but whatever), we're not exactly what people call a "normal family."

To start you off slow as to why, we don't really have parents. Mom died when I was six, and no one really knows what happened to dad. (Or, more likely, Bro knows, and just won't tell us.)  
With an absent father, and no mother available, our older Bro, who was sixteen at the time, was forced to watch over an eight year old Dirk. And then there was me, who was the youngest. Or that's what we believed at the time.

It wasn't until about two years ago, our Bro showed up out of the fucking blue with this chick Dirk and I had never seen before. And my first thought had been 'shit, she's hot', and then soon after I was informed that she was actually _related_ to us.

_Total _mood killer.

Rose was our half-sister, and _her_ mother turned out to be unfit to raise her in the end. So they went to call our dad only to find out 'fuck, he's MIA'.

And though, it would have been easiest to just send her away, to foster care or some shit, we were her last chance of probably _ever_ having a real family. What was one more, right?

Except that was totally _wrong._

This has all sounded like a classic dysfunctional family story so far, right?

_'Oh, absent father, close-knit brothers who need to help each other to survive'_

No.  
No, no, fuck that shit. I've been skipping around the important stuff.

Yeah, our mom died of natural causes. But the reason for our absent father?

Well, that was caused by a little something we liked to call, the family business.

Okay, let me just cut to the chase. I can't prolong this shit forever.

Monsters, Ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, things that you thought you'd see only in your nightmares, (or in Twilight, but isn't that worse than a nightmare? Dammit, I'm getting off subject), _are real._

That monster you thought lived in your closest, or under your bed as a kid? There's a chance that those things weren't just your imagination running wild.

And what did all this have to do with _us?_  
Well… we, among many others, were the ones who hunted those so called nightmares.

This is not for the irony, this is not a fucking joke.

You are _not_ on candid camera.

The family business is what took our dad away from us. Hell, it was starting to take Bro away from us.

He was so wrapped up in the job,that it was getting to the point where he'd only call us once a month to check in on us.

Dirk, the second oldest, a 19 year old, only a year out of highschool, had basically become our main guardian.

It was getting close to a year since we'd seen Bro face to face. We were starting to wonder if we'd _ever _see him in person again. But we weren't ones to bitch and moan. We took what we could get.

And you'd think that seeing our dad slip away from us completely, and our Bro getting close to that point, that we'd say 'nope, it would be a dumbass move to get involved in this shit' well, uh... I _wish_ we'd been that smart, but, no. You'd be wrong.

We'd basically been raised on this shit.

I had been slashing off vampire heads since I was 13 years old.

And Bro? Who knew how long he'd been at it. Obviously he was taught back when dad was still around.

It was pretty fucked up, but, we'd grown up like that, you know? It sort of didn't matter to us what people from the outside would think of it. It was the only life we'd ever known, plus, it wasn't like there were people from the outside interfering with this sort of thing, anyway.

"Dave, dude. Get out of your goddamn head already, they're all heading inside."

Dirk grabbed hold of my attention, and explained that everyone was heading inside the school building.

I glanced out the window and then turned back to Dirk, giving him a pleading look, though, then again he probably couldn't tell that it was pleading, because he obviously couldn't see my eyes through my shades.

I glanced back at Rose, who was ignoring us, reading intently through a book thicker than a damn encyclopedia, and acting like it was the most natural thing ever.

"Come _on,_ Dave. You already know we don't have time for this shit." Dirk grimaced, beginning to sound stern.

I knew that I was acting more prickish than usual by stalling my departure, but I _really_ hated being forced into another school.

It wasn't even the fact that I was doing a hunt all on my own, I was chill with that. But the fact that it was in a goddamn _school._

And Dirk was _just _starting to seem okay with the idea of me dropping out, when _this_ hunt came along.

Oh fucking joy, a haunted _school.  
_An actual reason to force me back into it. This was just a way to ease me back into finishing highschool, probably.

The outside was beginning to look clearer. Less kids wandering about, nearly everyone had entered the building.

I finally manned the fuck up, and opened the car door, stepping out, I wasn't _happy_ about it, but I was doing it.

"Oh! Shit, don't forget this." Dirk stopped me, pulling out of his pocket the key to the motel he'd checked me into, handing it to me hastily.

"I want a progress report, ASAP, okay?"

"Why didn't you enroll _Rose_ in school? She's way more into than I am." I complained, slightly, stating a well-known fact.

"Because Rose and I have another hunt planned, all right?" Dirk replied, agitated.

"You mean to say, _you_ have another hunt, in which you'll take me along, and then _not_ let me contribute whatsoever." Rose informed.

"_You,_ do me a favor and shut up." Dirk said, pointing in Rose's general direction, but not taking the time to look away from me.

"We'll have time to talk about _that_ during the drive. Just go, Dave. You're late." Dirk tried to rush me off.

"You don't trust me to look after her, is that it?" I accused.

Dirk looked like he was ready to facepalm or some shit, he was _that _done with this conversation.

"Dave, don't pull that bullshit. You _know,_ I trust you. As well as you know that despite how much it probably bothers you, she _is _safer with me."

"_She,_ is capable of caring for herself." Rose chipped in.

Dirk held up a hand to silence both of us.

"Rose, again, shut up. Dave…_go_, okay? Call me when you have news."

I finally stopped arguing with him, because there was no point.

Fact of the matter was, a hunt was a hunt, and _one_ of us had to take care of it. And this, well, this was the least troublesome option.

"Yeah, will do." I shrugged.

"Atta boy."

With that, Dirk and Rose were gone. I watched until the car was out of sight, my brother's beloved J-Pop playing loudly enough for me to hear for a few initial seconds even after the car was gone.

I turned, and looked at the tall school building that stood right in front of me.

It was just like any other public school I'd been to. It was tall, not very attractive, and there was an American flag waving majestically in the wind right outside.

Only difference between this school and the other ones I'd been to over the years, was when I went to all those other schools, I was there to learn.

But here?  
Not this time. This time I was there with one intent, and one intent only; to gank a motherfucker.


	2. Smooth

One of the perks of being late to your first day of school is that when you stride into the classroom, filled with all your new curious classmates, in that moment they get the image that you're the cool guy who's always stylishly late to places permanently engraved into their skulls.

Highschoolers were judgey as hell, a lot of the time their first impression of you becomes their all-around point of view on your personality, that's why you always gotta try and be smooth, or at least be a good representation of yourself during first impressions. Otherwise, you're stuck in a false identity, and if you're easily influenced, you actually do, over time, become that representation.

If highschool was good for one thing, it was good for sucking out all your personality.

But that was only if you cared what others thought of you. Me? Well, after being in school, after school, after school, you start to lose the fuck you once gave.

It'd practically been pulverized into my brain that it's the _worst _thing I could worry about.

And I wasn't fucking brainwashed or any of that shit. It was the truth.

I was a Hunter, and that meant sacrificing things like that.

Friends, any kind of relationship.

It wasn't even really a good idea to be tight with _other_ Hunters. And that reason being, our deaths were all inevitable.

Okay, okay, I know _all_ death is fucking inevitable.

But ours were… among some of the _more_ inevitable ones.  
When news spread around the hunting community claiming that yet, another Hunter was dead, no one was shocked, no one even blinked an eye, because that was just how it was.

From the age of 13 years old, I'd known that I was going to die, and not pleasantly. I knew that if I was lucky, I'd make it my thirties, but even that was less than likely, most of us died young, and it made sense, seeing as we spent our lives throwing ourselves into deadly situations.

I knew that I'd never be able to get out. I knew I'd never be able to settle down. I knew that even making _friends_ was a luxury I couldn't afford. Once a person became my friend, it either meant I'd have to break away from them, which would most likely sting, or they'd get involved.

That's all there was to it.

I stumbled down the hallway of the school, struggling to find the classroom. And seeing as the hallways were empty I was on my own.

This was such a repeat of every other school I'd ever been to, that for half a second, I forgot why I was there in the first place. For a brief second in the moment, I actually believed I was normal. I pictured myself as just another awkward kid, not being able to find his classroom on the first day of school.

It all came crashing down on me when I realized, that I wasn't normal, and I wasn't even there to learn.

All right, no more secrets.

Dirk had spotted out this gig, it was spur of the moment, until about two days ago, I had been planning to follow Dirk and Rose on the hunt that the two of them were doing.

I was pretty shady on the details, basically all I knew was that some shit went down a couple years back, some people got hurt, some people died, blah, blah, blah. Nothing out of the ordinary.  
I figured I'd probably just have to get a couple of names out of someone, and then go salt and burn a couple of bodies.

It probably wouldn't take more than a day.

I finally found the door to my first class. I took a deep breath.

_Stay cool, Strider. You're cool. You're motherfucking fly, you can do this._

With that, I opened the door, and hesitantly walked into the room.

The teacher, who was a pretty young chick, probably in her late-ish twenties, stopped writing whatever it was she was writing on the chalk board, and turned to me.

I felt what felt like a million pairs of eyes on me at that time.

"Oh! You must be, uh…" The teacher started, then trailed off, looking down at a piece of paper.

"Dave? Dave Strider?"

I gave a solemn nod, before tilting my shades down, and giving the teacher a subtle, or more likely, not subtle at all, wink. (I liked to think I was subtlety cool as fuck).

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

The classroom erupted in laughter, and the teacher looked embarrassed.

"You can take a seat, David." She said, clearing her throat, using my full name, as if trying to make a point that she was being serious.

I didn't protest, and I made my way down the rows, taking one of the few empty seats.

A guy rolled his eyes, probably annoyed by my attitude, and a group of girls whispered to each other, giggling quietly, and glancing over at me, with a small bit of hesitance.

I looked their way, and nodded a little, acknowledging them.

They all quickly turned away, giggling, and whispering even more.

"All right, class, settle down—"

And that's when I tuned her out.

Like I'd said, a billion times already, I wasn't there to learn.

It was once all the students settled down, listening to the teacher's lecture that I began scanning the room, going through my usual new-school-routine.

My routine being, looking around the room, studying the kids in it. Putting a label on them.

Basically, de-humanizing them.

It was a trick I'd been using since I was a kid.

Whenever I went to a new school, I took a look at a person, and labeled them.

Jock, giggle girl, dweeb, etc.

If I let myself believe that everyone was the same, then I could avoid becoming attached.

I looked to the group of girls who had obviously been whispering and giggling about me.

Popular girls, no doubt.

I looked to the guy who had rolled his eyes at me.

Blue button up shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, not looking extremely intelligent, nor extremely stupid.

Clean-cut.

Just an all-around nice-guy. The kind of guy who despised guys like me, they despised the cool-type, or the badass type because _those_ types always got the girls, while they, themselves were overlooked.

(ex: That group of girls had begun giggling and talking about me the moment I'd entered the room, while, he had been there for god knows how long, and they had no doubt written him off as a potential boyfriend, or even a friend, probably.)

The problem with this type of guy was, they wanted to be noticed desperately, but by all the wrong types of girls. This type of guy always went for the popular girls, the typical cheerleaders, and didn't notice when any other girl took notice of him.

They thrived so much for the attention of the popular girls, and didn't even let it cross their minds that maybe they wouldn't even be a good match.

What would a guy like that have in common with a fucking cheerleader? Exactly. Nothing.

While they were daydreaming about cheerleaders, there was the class book worm, crushing the hell over that very same guy, and they'd never know that she felt that way, because this type of guy always had his goddamn head up his ass. Even though, in reality, this girl would be a much better match for him than any cheerleader.

I went around the room labeling.

Hipster, goody-two-shoes, shy girl, dweeb, nerd, trying-too-hard, douchebag, and then my eyes stopped on a particular face.

There, a few seats away from me, sat a girl, with long, messy black hair, and big round glasses. She wore a long skirt, and a long sleeved shirt with some type of weird atom symbol on it.

She licked her lips every few seconds, as it appeared to be a method of concentration, as she jotted down everything the teacher was saying, taking notes.

Her eyes were a bright green color, and there was something about them.

I didn't realize how long I'd be looking at her, I only noticed when she finally glanced back at me, obviously knowing that I'd been staring.

I quickly looked away, and stared at my empty notebook.

Fuck.

Had she turned because she'd seen me looking? Did she just so happen to glance over for no reason? Had she seen me?

Goddammit.

I felt like a fucking idiot, I knew I was being overly dramatic, because this had happened before. I'd been caught in the act of staring, and labeling before, but I'd never felt _this _dumb about it.

I glanced over my shoulder, and saw she was smiling, and shaking her head a little.

I noticed in that moment, that she had a slight overbite, but it wasn't ugly. It almost looked quirky, or dare I say, _cute_ on her.

Realizing that if she caught me looking again, she'd probably write me off as a total creep, I turned back, and just stared at my notebook, taking out my pencil, and doodling, pretending to take notes.

I hadn't labeled her yet.

Nerd?  
No, that felt wrong.

Dork?  
No, too soon to tell.

Dweeb.

That must have been it, she was a dweeb.

Yup.

For the rest of that class, I actually found myself taking goddamn notes, in an attempt to distract myself.

. . . .

I'd forgotten how fucking loud cafeterias were.

There were like 60 billion conversations going on in that one room, or that's what it felt like, and it was fucking insane.

I was used to talking to just two other people.

Dirk and Rose, with the slight noise of my brother playing one of his mix CDs.

There was like 60 billion conversations going on, and I wasn't part of even one of them. I was just standing in line with an empty tray waiting to get the school lunch, feeling a huge amount of culture shock.

I knew this wasn't a different culture, it was just another dumbass, all-American school. But it felt like a whole other culture to me.

I finally stepped out of line, once I got the food, which didn't look all that fucking appetizing to be honest, but I felt hungry enough to eat it.

This place felt so goddamn crowded that I hadn't even really found an empty table yet.

"Dave! Come sit with us!"

I was startled when that same group of popular girls from my first class came up behind me, one of them entangling her arm with mine.

Whoa, I'd apparently made a very good first impression.

These chicks clearly dug me, and I had no interest in them whatsoever, but I had to get information out of _someone_ to find out what sort of thing I was dealing with here, and they were inviting me, so what was the harm?

I followed them to their table, and set down my tray where a couple of other girls were sitting, and a couple of jocks.  
I'd somehow weaseled my way over to the popular kid's table on my first day.

"Guys, this is Dave!" One of the girls announced.

"Me and Lindsay share a few classes with him, he's new."

"I saw him earlier in the hallway." A girl announced, as she played with her hair, which was clearly "I'm into you" body language.

I came to the realization that I had just been standing there like a douchebag this whole time, feeling too awkward to sit down.

Upon realizing that, I was about to sit down, when I heard the jumbling of trays behind me, I heard a lunch tray hit the ground, and I heard the suppressed scream of a female, and just by instinct, because I'd been hunting for what felt like forever, I swung around, threw myself forward, and like a smooth motherfucker caught the girl, who had tripped in my arms, like I was fucking Spiderman, or some shit.

The popular girls all "oohed and awed".

It took me a moment to look down at said girl, and instantly I became startled when I met the green eyes of the same girl that had caught me staring in class.

My eyes widened behind my shades, and I unfroze, quickly setting her on her feet, finding that, for the first time in a long time, I was flustered.

And I had no reason to be, I wasn't the one who had tripped.

"Whoa!" She stared at me with wide, excited eyes.

"That was… like, really smooth!"

She was grinning a big grin, not seeming the least bit embarrassed that she had tripped, this spoke to me saying that it was a normal occurrence.

"Who are you, Peter Parker?"

Oh sweet Jesus, this girl was amazing.

No.  
She was a dweeb. Typical dweeb.

Or that's what I was trying to convince myself.

"Nah, I'm not Parker. I'm not a hero like him, just good reflexes, that's all." I informed.

She still had a big smile on her face, her green eyes shining, as she laughed softly.

"You're cooler than Peter, anyway." She retorted.

I wanted to come back at her, and say something cool, but I was drawn at blank for the first time in a long time. She saved me from saying anything stupid though, seeing as before I could say another word, she waved very slightly.

"See ya around, cool kid." She said, and then she got lost in the crowd.

There was silence at the popular kid's table after I sat down, but it didn't take long for one of the girls to chip in, asking me questions excitedly.

"That was, like, amazing, Dave! How'd you learn to do that?"

I shrugged.

"Years of practice, I suppose."

_**A/N: I actually meant to post this earlier in the week, but, I got distracted this week! Thursday is my update day anyway, so yeah, expect an update every Thursday, though, I might try to post an extra chapter earlier. Thank you to everyone who has read so far! I hope you're beginning to get a grasp of what this story is going to be about. Though, I suppose the full plot hasn't been revealed yet, so it might be hard to tell. I'll just say it now, Jade and Dave are the only Homestuck characters in this school. Sadly, there will be no appearances of any other characters, other than the Striders, and Jade. I'm just trying to stay focused on the plot. Buuut, I hope you all enjoyed this, follow or review if you can because that would really help me out, and yeah! See you all soon!**_


	3. Revealed

"I'm telling you, Rose. She was the weirdest girl I've ever fucking met, and yet, I couldn't seem to put a label on her." I blabbed on to my half sister on the phone the next morning at the motel, as I threw junk into my backpack, getting ready to head out the door.

She was the only other person who knew about "the labeling game".  
It was just something I never ended up telling Dirk about, but it was something I was forced to teach Rose a couple months back when she'd needed to start herself, as she was having issues moving from school to school for every hunt.

"Seeing as you keep going on about how "weird" she is, perhaps, simply the title "weirdo" may suffice?" She suggested.

I threw my backpack over my shoulder, and grabbed the key to my room, throwing it in my pocket, before locking the door, and heading outside, getting ready to walk to school.

"Nah, "weirdo" just doesn't feel right, you know?" I replied.

I decided to change the subject quickly, as I was only confusing myself more talking about her so openly with my sister.

"All that shit aside, how goes your hunt?"

I heard her make an aggravated noise that sounded somewhat close to a cross between a groan, and a whine.

So, I guess it was a whiney groan.

"You mean _Dirk's _hunt. He hasn't let me participate in any way, other than being his researcher/cheerleader."

I laughed, upon hearing Rose compare herself to a cheerleader.  
That was so far from what Rose really was, that it sounded hilarious. I had pictured Rose as the most awkward cheerleader in the world, twirling around half-assedly, and cheering in a monotone voice.

"Don't laugh, Dave. I'm being deadly serious." She informed, agitated.

"I know, I know, Jeez." I grumbled.

"It's just hard to picture you as any sort of cheerleader other than an ultra shitty one, that's all."

The line went silent for a moment.

"Dave, I can do things to you that you have only ever witnessed in your darkest of nightmares. So I suggest that you shut your mouth."

Damn, I sometimes forgot how fucking scary the chick could be if she felt like it.

"Jesus Rose, chill." I laughed, but it was an awkward laugh, as her comments made me feel slightly uneasy.

I'd stopped right outside my motel room door, I hadn't even bothered to start the walk towards the school yet, I was about to wrap up the conversation anyway, when I was startled by what happened next.

The very same girl who I just couldn't seem to label, walked out of one of the doors of the very same motel I was staying in.

She walked out the door, and started right down the sidewalk, not noticing me.

Her long hair looked soft, and she had her messenger bag slung over her shoulder, as she started seemingly happily down the sidewalk, seeming as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"Dave? Are you still there?" Rose's voice cut in.

Dammit, I'd suddenly let the line go silent, in which, to Rose, seemed out of nowhere.

"Yeah, sorry. I gotta get to school, though." I informed.

"Okay." She said.

I was about to hang up when she stopped me.

"Oh, and Dave?"

"Yeah?" I asked, not really paying much attention, as I was still paying more attention to the girl.

"Be careful." She said.

I sighed.

"No worries."

And with that, I hung up for real.

A million questions started running through my head the moment I'd seen that girl exit the motel.

Was she new in town like me?

Was her family really so poor that the only motel they could afford was the shittiest motel in town?

I started after her.

I wasn't being a fucking stalker, I mean, _I _had to get to school as well, and this was the way.

I ended up catching up to her enough that I could hear her happily humming the song "Walking On Sunshine".

Jesus fucking Christ, you had to be like, the happiest fucking person in the world to be humming a song like that on the walk to school.

Inevitably, since I wasn't far behind her, she ended up hearing me, and turning back slightly out of curiosity to see who was behind her.

I was probably the last person she expected.

When she turned, her eyes flashed with recognition as our eyes met. (Though, my eyes were behind shades, but nonetheless, I felt a goddamn spark, so shut up.)

"Dave?" She asked, a grin touching her lips as she spoke my name.

"That's your name, isn't it? Dave Strider?"

_Fuck.  
Shit.  
Dammit._

I started mentally cursing myself, using every curse word in the book Because I, Dave Strider, who was cool as fuck, was flustered, for the second time in front of the very same girl who had made him feel flustered the first time.

What the ever loving fuck was wrong with me?  
She'd barely said a thing to me. All she'd done was acknowledge my presence.

_All right, cool it, Strider. You don't even know her, she doesn't even know you. Just say hi. Just say hi, stop being an awkward little shit._

"Uh, yeah, that's me." I said, catching up to her, as she had stopped to look back at me, which had slowed her down.

_"Yeah, that's me"? Fuck me. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. I sound like a fucking idiot._

She giggled though, as if what I'd said was the least bit amusing.

"Hi, I'm Jade!" She informed, extending a hand.

I took her hand, awkwardly shaking it.

"Yeah, I'm Dave."

She laughed, and it took me two initial seconds to realize my mistake.

"Wait, fuck—Dammit, I didn't mean to introduce myself a second time, what I meant was uh…"

What the fuck?  
'Yeah, I'm Dave'  
Two fucking seconds after feeling embarrassed by my _first _introduction?

She started walking again, a smile on her face, and as I needed to get to school as well, I walked along beside her.

"So, where are you from?" She asked.

"I mean, you're new to school, so I can only assume that you just moved from somewhere?"

Damn, she was going to try and keep this conversation _going? _I didn't know what the fuck to say! I'd just end up making an idiot of myself.

Okay, okay.

I tried to calm down in my head. She was just a girl, just a girl, like any other girl I'd ever met at a new school.

"Uh, I'm from… around."

I realized two seconds after that I could have named any damn state, and she would have bought it. But "I'm from around" was shady as hell.

I expected an annoyed, or weirded out reply, but she just giggled a bit, and replied.

"Ooh, mysterious." She joked.

"So, is that just your way of telling me to mind my own business?"

Wow, she was really accepting. It was almost scary.

"Uh, nah. I'm from Boston." I blurted out.

That really was the city I'd been in most recently, technically, my siblings and I _had _just come from Boston. It wasn't even a lie.

"Oh, that's cool! My Grandpa used to take me there when I was little!" She told me.

The curiosity got the best of me, and I went on to ask _her_ a question.

"I saw you leaving the motel I'm staying at, not to be a fucking creep or anything, I just so happened to see you." I told her.

She nodded, not questioning anything I was saying.

"So, it just made me wonder if you were new in town too?"

She shook her head.

"Nah, I've lived in this town for a couple of years now!" She explained, nonchalantly, not really elaborating.

She'd been living in a motel for a "couple of years now"? It made me wonder, again, how fucking poor her family was.

"You and your family live in that old motel?" I asked, trying to subtly get the information.

"Nope! Just me!" She said, again, nonchalantly.

Okay, so… this 17 year old girl, _still _in highschool lived by herself in a motel. That brought on more questions.

Had she been kicked out of her house? Had she run away? Had she emancipated herself?

I almost asked her, but then realized how much of a fucking idiot I was.

I spent my school-life trying to de-humanize everyone. And here I was, humanizing the fuck out of this girl.

I needed to stop before it went too far.

The conversation had gone silent, but I hadn't noticed because I was too busy cursing myself.

"So what about your family? Are you just staying at the motel until you can scout out a house to invest in?" She asked, casually, as we got closer to the school building.

"..Oh." I realized, as she dragged me back into reality, that I was going to make up a whole shitload of lies, to cover my tracks.

"Actually, I'm not here to stay, my brother and sister are on a business trip, and they figured since they were leaving me behind, I might as well get some school in, so that I can fucking graduate, you know?" I told her.

Phew, that was pretty damn smooth. That wasn't even too far from the truth.

"Oh." She said.

"I understand!"

And the rest of the walk, which was only a minute or two longer, seeing as we were right in front of the school, and basically had to just enter the building, was silent.

We stopped in the hallway, and looked at each other, as it was time to go our separate ways down the hall to get to our different lockers.

"I, uhm… it was nice to get to know you a little better!" She exclaimed, seemingly slightly nervous.

"Thanks for yesterday, by the way."

I was drawn at blank as to what I did yesterday for a second.

"What did I—oh, right. The cafeteria thing. It was no big deal." I informed.

She smiled, gratefully, before slowly starting to walk away.

Though, she was still facing me, so she was walking very slowly backwards.

"Talk to you later?" She asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, and Jade?" I said.

"Hm?" She asked.

"Watch where you're going."

She swung around, and noticed she was a step away from bumping into a big group of seniors.

She turned back to me, looking embarrassed, as her face went slightly red.

"Oops!"

She laughed awkwardly.

"Guess you saved me again. Jeez, my debt is beginning to pile up, I owe you a soda or something!"

I couldn't help but to chuckle a little at her, and how accident prone she was.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. See you later." I turned around, and started going the other way.

It took me a moment to realize that I was still thinking about her, and I had a goddamn _smile _on my face.

I took a deep breath, and tried to erase her from my mind.

I needed to think up a label for her soon, this was spiraling out of control.

. . . .

I'd gone through every possible label I could think of.

Nerd, dweeb, dork, weirdo, ditz.

Nothing seemed to fit.

No _one_ label seemed to fit.

And the more I thought about it, the more I freaked myself out.

On the positive side of all things, I'd managed to figure out a little bit more about what I was dealing with.

Basically, after snooping around some, and researching things on the school computers in the library, I'd found out, that recently, within the last few weeks, a Junior, who had been sent to the guidance counselor multiple times in one week, with reports of talking to herself, and going as far as to having loud outbursts directed at a person who no one else ever saw, had hung herself in the girl's bathroom, after two weeks of talking to herself, and having break downs in the hall.

She had seemingly been bullied to death, according to her suicide note, but there was no one to blame the bullying on. The person she was talking about seemingly "didn't exist" according to the news reports.

And I found that it wasn't the first time that it had happened at this school.

There had been six different suicides over the course of 10 years.

And what did the deceased have in common?

It seemed as if most of them were in advances classes, had gotten straight A's, and had a bright future ahead of them, (that was until they offed themselves, of course.)

So basically, they were all nerds, and outcasts, the kinds of kids that would typically get bullied, only, the bully that in the end caused them to kill themselves, was never revealed.

And _all _the victims had been sent to the guidance counselor with reports of them having outbursts and talking to themselves, just weeks before their suicide.

Sounded like a typical vengeful spirit to me.

But it wasn't enough information.

There was no story behind it.

No name for me to go on, I had no idea what had started this whole thing.

Once I knew, I'd be able to end the hunt, and get the fuck out of the school.

That was where Jade came in.

She'd mentioned getting a soda, and so I figured, if I could grab her after school, I could casually bring up the situation, see if she knew the story behind it all.

It seemed like the quickest way, seeing as, digging deep, and finding the reason behind things via the computer was more of Rose's department.

So after my last class, I waited around outside, waiting for Jade to exit the building.

Since we went home the same way, I'd no doubt be able to spot her.

Sure enough, she came out the door a few minutes after I had, and I waved to get her attention.

"Yo, Jade. Hold up a sec." I said.

She noticed me instantly, and came up to me, happily.

"Hi Dave!" She said.

"What's up?"

"I, uh…"

Fuck, this was gonna make it sound like I was asking her out on a date. The thing she said about owing me a soda, was more than likely just a joke, so the fact that I'd bring it up might make me come across as if I liked her.

Would it?  
Ugh, I was just confusing myself.  
I was probably over analyzing this.

"Uh, that soda thing you mentioned… do you wanna, like… do that now? I'm free…or…! Whenever you're free, that's chill… it's all cool." I stumbled through that sentence, making myself sound overly idiotic.

She laughed.

"Yeah, sure!"

It was really that simple?

Fuck, I probably could have left out a lot of words to that sentence.

Okay, okay, I had to stop beating myself up. What's done is done, right?

"So, did you mean now? I know a place, and it's my treat! Seeing as I owe you."

"Yeah, that's cool." I nodded, trying to seem stoic, and uncaring.

"All righty, then! I'll lead the way!"

And she did.

We talked a little on the way there, but mostly, I tried to restrain myself from asking her questions that forced me to get to know her more.

I seriously didn't need to make her seem even _more_ unique and human in my mind. I mostly let her talk, and analyzed her, whilst trying to label her.

Still, nothing.

No labels.

She brought me to this cute little diner that had a 60's type-theme going, and waitress seemed to know her, as if she went there a lot.

She ordered a vanilla milkshake, and I ordered a coke.

She offered to buy me dinner, if I was hungry, which I was, I was starving to fucking death, but I was hesitant about relying on other people for money, so I said I wasn't hungry, and hoped that the coke would tide me over.

I made small talk with her for awhile, before I jumped right into what I wanted to talk about originally.

"So, I couldn't help but hear, about, like… the suicides that have happened over the course of the last ten years." I hinted, taking a sip of my drink.

Jade went silent at the mention of that, and looked a little startled, before she picked herself back up, laughing awkwardly.

"I guess the rumors around the school are still spreading, huh?" She said.

"People make up such silly explanations to things like this, I mean… it's really sad that Joslyn, among others over the years, killed herself, but, I mean, I wish people would respect her death more."

"You knew her?" I pressed the conversation on.

"A little." She admitted.

"She shared some of my more advanced classes."

She stirred her milkshake with her straw, looking as if she felt really awkward, and slightly sad.

"She was a really nice girl! And seemed really normal, until a few weeks ago… she started talking to herself, and having mental break downs… no one really knew what was wrong." She went on.

"She kept on describing the bullies that were harassing her, but there was no one around the school that looked exactly like what she was describing, and when the teachers who were trying to uncover the bully found a student with similar features, she always said it wasn't them, they eventually gave up on her, and just started sending her to the guidance counselor three days a week. One day she was having a day worse than usual, and she ditched out on math class. A couple of girls went to find her, and she was, well… dead. Hanging from one of the stalls in the girl's bathroom."

She seemed really uncomfortable talking about all this, as she was still stirring her milkshake, avoiding eye contact.

It almost made me feel a little bad for bringing up the topic.

But the thing was, I needed to get information from _someone. _There was no way around it.

"Do you know what started all this?" I asked, after a few seconds of silence.

"Well, it started ten years ago… there was sort of a school shooting, and that was the first violent outburst that had happened at the school."

"Do you know what caused it?" I asked, knowing I was pushing it, but I felt as if I was getting closer to the answer.

"There were a couple of football players who were picking on this kid, he was sort of… I dunno how to put this… a nerd? He was kind of weaker than most, and he was sort of used to getting bullied, you know?" She started, after taking a deep breath.

"Well, it started when he came to the school, he was new, and these three guys, the football players, started picking on him right away. But it got worse, and worse, and over the course of his first semester, they wouldn't leave him alone, and he sorta… well… snapped. He brought a gun into school, and killed the three guys, and then put the gun in his own mouth and pulled the trigger. It's… sort of a tricky subject at our school, no one really talks about it. Ever since then, every few years, a student kills themselves, and it _seems_ out of the blue. But, it's obvious that something's causing it."

Holy shit, okay…that was all I had needed to know. I just needed to go back to the motel, and look up a school shooting on my laptop, I'd get their names, burn the bodies, and then, problem solved.

"I kind of have a theory, though, it's a little crazy." She said, softly, and she seemed nervous to talk about her theory.

"I've heard a shitload of crazy, babe. Lay it on me." I said, trying to be casual, seeing how nervous she was.

"I know, it's gonna make sound insane, but… seeing the targets, and the history behind it, I think that it's, uh, well…" She was playing with her hair, trying to distract herself.

"I think it's their ghosts… the ghosts of the bullies. Bullying kids similar to the guy who murdered them, and taunting them until they off themselves, as revenge."

That was spot fucking on.

What the hell made her come to this conclusion.

_Okay, play it cool. Don't make it obvious that you believe her._

"What made you come to this conclusion?" I asked, trying to sound skeptical.

"Well… I know, you're gonna think I belong in a mental house…" She started.

"...But, I've seen them. I've seen the ghosts."

_**A/N: Oh, look! I'm updating early! Welp... I worked really hard on this chapter. I'm hoping that this is the chapter that sucks people in? To be honest, this story isn't going as well as I hoped. I mean, I really enjoy writing it, and the plot and hinted pairing of the story keep me excited, but I think I had high expectations of how popular it was going to be after my last fanfiction. All that aside, of course I'm going to finish it. I make a note to never quit a story, plus, if I'm gonna write this for anyone, it's for myself, because I really like the idea of a Hunters!Homestuck AU.  
I hope you all like this, and please, if you have the time follow or review, it really helps me to feel appreciated for putting so much effort into this. See you all next Thursday!**_

**-Raiden**


	4. Mistaken

That was more than I had needed to know. I'd started to think with all the shit she was blabbing that maybe she knew more than she should have, but when Jade let it slip that she was actually one of the _victims _it made sense. It all made fucking sense, she'd studied up on the topic, more than an average person would, because she was being haunted, and she'd actually had an open enough mind to consider the possibility that the "bullies" were, well, not natural.

I tried to assure her that I was going to get rid of them, without making myself sound too fucking insane. I mean, I was saying that I was going to get rid of goddamn spirits, that was insane sounding within itself no matter how I put it, but, how the fuck else was I supposed to put it?

She didn't seem to put off by it, and that was good, I thought?

I gave her my number, telling her to call it if anything changed, or blah blah blah. Basically just reassuring bullshit.

To be honest, really, I was beginning to care what she thought of me too much for my own good. It was probably good that I'd gotten to the bottom of the whole thing so quickly, the sooner I got out of there, the better.

"Pretty batshit, right?" I blabbed over the phone to my sister, Rose, who no doubt was balancing the phone on her shoulder whilst typing away on her laptop.

"Not particularly, I've heard worse, and so have you, Dave." She said, sounding disinterested.

"Can't you handle your own research?"

"I _could_, but it would take a lot longer." I groaned.

"You're pathetic."

"Shut up, you're worse." I retorted.

"Be quiet, you are the one who is endlessly pining over some _normal _girl that you've known for a mere two days, if anyone is pathetic, it's _you. _You're endangering yourself, Dave. What's going to happen when she falls in love with you, hm?" She taunted.

I felt a sudden burst of anger surface, and I was ready to yell, but before I could, Dirk took the phone from Rose, interrupting the conversation.

"Dave, this is you, right?"He asked, casually.

No fucking shit, Dirk. Who else would Rose be doing research over the phone for, whilst balancing the ability to aggravate at the same time?

"Yeah, what's up?" I shrugged.

"Nothing, I think we're pretty close to our end game over here, what about you? You about to gank those bastards?" He persisted.

"Yeah, nearly. Rose just has to give me the names, though I think I pissed her off."

"You did, but she already has the information here on the screen, fortunately for you."

Dirk told me the names, and the cemetery, and I scribbled it all down carelessly.

"Thanks, man." I said, and I was ready to hang up, and go salt and burn those douchebags, but he stopped me.

"Hey, what's all this shit about you pining over some chick?" He asked.

Great, here we go.  
He just _had_ to hear that part.

"I'm not fucking pining over her, okay? That wouldn't even be the right word."

"I dunno, dude. Rose is pretty damn good with words."

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see me. I couldn't stand this type of confrontation. First of all, nothing was going to happen, and second, Dirk didn't know what the fuck he was talking about.

The dickbag was always so guarded on that topic, that Rose and I would never even know if he'd developed feelings for someone. The guy tried too fucking hard to be a role model for us.

I'd never even heard him talk about another human being with romantic intent.

"Look, she's nothing, okay?" I tried to keep it vague, though in truth, "nothing" wasn't the right word. She was _something,_ but I'd never tell my brother and sister that.

"All right, all right." Dirk half dismissed it.

"Just tell her as little as you can, okay? Keep it on the down-low."

He was treating me like I was 12 again.

"I _know." _I said, clearly agitated.

"Just…this shit's serious, all right, Dave?" He went on, even though I'd gotten the point already.

"One slip of the tongue and she'll be involved."

I thought over those words.  
Was she already involved? Had that slip of the tongue already happened? Nah, she was a vic, her involvement was different.

It was a different type of involvement, I hadn't gone too far yet.

"Okay?" I'd let the line go silent, so Dirk pestered on, trying to get me to respond.

"Okay."

I hung up the phone, more paranoid than ever. I couldn't fuck this up.

. . . .

Digging up graves was harder than the movies made it out to be.

I saw handsome model-like actors digging up graves with just a shovel, uncaringly like it was the easiest thing in the world. In reality, that shit's hard.

In my case, my hands were pretty callused from years of doing it.

So my hands didn't bleed anymore, thank god.

But it wasn't just the digging part that was tricky, it was not getting caught.

There I was, sneaking into a goddamn graveyard in the dead of night, a shovel and one of those dumbass battery power lanterns in hand.

It was no picnic in the park, digging up three graves, in the dark, and not getting caught.

Emphasis on the fact that this time around it was _three_ different graves. Usually, Dirk and I would dig up a single grave, salt and burn the body, put the grave back together, and run like hell.

But there I was, all on my own. See how it might be something to grumble about?

The process _wasn't_ fast, even with all the experience I had.

I dug up the graves one at a time, burning them all, one by one.

I was lucky enough not to run into trouble that night, it was almost a first. Almost always someone would drive by, see what was going on, and call the cops.

Unfortunately, by the time I was through with all of it, it was nearly 5am, and I was barely able to keep my eyes open on the walk back to the motel.

_Fuck me, I can barely walk to the room._

I was famous for my lack of good sleep, but this was ridiculous. I was almost contemplating just collapsing where I stood.  
That was how pathetic I was.

I grumbled to myself, not even quite sure what I was going on about, and half-assdedly, I stumbled into my motel room, basically falling into bed and instantly passing out.

. . . .

My phone went off an hour later, though, it wasn't the alarm I'd set, which was meant to go off at 6:30.

This goddamn thing went off at _6:00._ Are you fucking kidding me? I could have slept for another half hour!

I reached over to shut off the alarm, only to realize, it wasn't the alarm at all. Dirk's phone number lit up on the screen.

Really? Dirk knew a whole lot better than to fucking call me so early. He knew I'd had three graves to dig up, and that it wasn't going to be pretty.

Dumbass.

Nonetheless, I picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I answered groggily.

"You sound absolutely dreadful." Rose's voice taunted me on the other line.

"Rose, I swear to god, I've had an hour of sleep, and I can't put up with your BS, so what do you want?"

She laughed quietly, seeming amused.

"Dirk finished off the witch last night, we're headed back towards you now." She told me.

"Shit." I grumbled, glancing at my watch.

"How long til you get here?"

"An hour, hour and a half, tops." She informed.

"Why? Aren't you finished with the hunt?"

"No, it's chill, I wrapped it up last night." I said.

There was silence for a second.

"This about that girl, correct?" She pestered.

"_No, _Rose. Just shut up about her, already." I grumbled.

She sounded aggravated.

"I presume we should pick you up at the highschool?" She said, sounding partially annoyed.

"…Yeah."  
I hung up, and instantly groaned, and fell back onto the bed, running my hands through my hair.

I was wired now, there was no way I was going back to sleep, too many thoughts plaguing me, and other dumb shit.

I was just going back to school to tell Jade that it was over, that was it. I didn't care about anything else. I'd tell her and that would be our _last _interaction. It had to be.

A half hour passed, I'd showered, threw everything into my backpack clumsily, this time including everything else I'd taken along.

I didn't have room for it all in the one bag. I had brought along a duffle bag as well, which was where I kept any clothes, and weapons (which were concealed in the clothes, in case someone ever opened the bag, god forbid.

I slipped the other bag over my shoulder, and went to the front desk to turn in my motel key and check out.

Just as I left the main area Jade was leaving her room.

_Shit. _  
_Okay, be cool. Reassure her that it's all over, and leave it at that. Be chill. Be distant._

"Hey Dave!"

_Fuck,_ _who was I kidding?_

I was glad I had my shades to hide the undeniable dark rings I had under my eyes.

"Sup." I answered, as the two of us started walking side-by-side down the sidewalk.

"What's with the duffle bag?" She questioned.

"Oh, right." I said, hoping I didn't sound as tired as I felt.

"My brother and sister are coming to get me today, I just checked out."

Her face visibly dropped.

"Oh." She went silent for a moment, as the two of us walked.

"But what about the—"

"The vengeful spirits? Gone. I took care of it." I said, almost sounding cold and uncaring.

Which, I wanted to fucking slap myself for, but, on one hand, I was supposed to cut all ties with her, so maybe if she thought I was an asshole it would be better for both of us.

She nodded slowly, looking at the ground.

"Already? I honestly thought something like that would take a lot longer." She told me.

"Nah, I've done this before."

_Fuck.  
Shit.  
Goddammit._

That was it, wasn't it? _That _was the slip of the tongue Dirk had been talking about? She was gonna wanna know what I meant now, maybe she already knew? What if she pursued the topic?

That was it, I was the biggest jackass on the planet.

To my surprise, she just gave me a weird look, and then shrugged it off as if it was nothing.

"…You're sure it's over?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty sure."

"Oh."

Once again, the two of us fell silent.

The two of us stopped outside the school, and sort of just looked at each other.

"I'm not sad that it's over." She said, a little, slightly sad, smile touching her lips, as she looked up at me.

"I'm just a little sad you have to go so soon, I hadn't anticipated that you'd be gone, just like that, you know?"

I sighed.

I was tired, and overwhelmed with emotions I couldn't really begin to comprehend.

I had to be straight with her.

"Look, Jade. You don't wanna get involved with a guy like me." I said, avoiding the BS, and instantly regretting it, because now she was gonna question it.

"What do you mean?" She tilted her head, confused.

"What do you mean "a guy like you"?"

Just then, I caught a glance of my brother's red mustang pulling into the school parking lot.

I looked at Rose, holding up a finger to tell her to wait a minute.

"I'm just… not a good guy, okay?" I said.

"I'm a mess, and… well, it's probably a good thing that this was short-lived."

I wanted to go on, but I knew I'd say shit I'd regret.

"That's your brother and sister?" She asked, looking over at the recently pulled up car, that was about fifty feet away from us, in the parking lot.

"Yeah." I told her.

"…You'll keep in touch?" She asked, slowly.

I didn't answer.

"I gotta go." I told her.

She opened her mouth to say something, looking slightly hurt that I hadn't answered her previous question.

"Okay." She said, softly.

Before I could stop her, she threw her arms around me, taking me by surprise.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?" I asked, standing still, still surprised.

"Believing me, not calling me crazy, putting a stop to it? I dunno, a lot of things." She said.

I shrugged.

"It was nothing."

I awkwardly put an arm around her, returning the hug, lightly.

And with that, I walked away, getting in the car.

I had to stop myself from glancing at her, as Dirk drove away.

"I saw that." Rose informed me quietly.

"Rose, give 'im a break." Dirk grumbled.

I felt… I didn't know what it was I felt in that moment. Half-dead from lack of sleep, first of all.

I was in the back seat for once, I just felt like curling up, and passing out, so I wouldn't have to think about _anything._

That's what I ended up doing.

. . . .

I woke up again by the sound of the phone ringing, or really, in truth, I probably would have slept through it, if Dirk hadn't loudly proclaimed that my cellphone was ringing.

I once again, groggily, answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Dave?"

I instantly sat up.

"Why'd you call this number?" I demanded, trying to sound cold, and uncaring, even though I instantly felt my heart skip a beat when I realized that Jade had called my number.

"I-I just—" She sounded startled by my tone.

I felt bad, hearing her sound hurt like that, which led me to sigh, running the fingers from my free hand through my hair.

"Jade…you _can't_ call me, okay? We can't be in contact." I said, trying not to sound too audibly sad. I didn't want Dirk and Rose questioning the relationship again.

"But Dave, it's important!" She announced, sounding determined not to be bothered by my tone anymore.

"This one time, what is it?" I told her, still attempting to sound uncaring.

"It's not over, Dave." She told me.

What the hell did she mean "not over"?

She didn't mean…?

"No, Jade, it is. We can't be in contact with each other, and that's that."

"Not that, you dumbass!" She retorted, agitated.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"The spirits you "got rid of", well, they're not gone, okay? I think you made a mistake."

Shit.

"Okay, got it."

Without another word, I hung up the phone. I should have known not to back off the hunt so quickly. What kind of hunter was I? Believing that I was finished before I looked over all the possibilities?

"What's going on, Dave?" Dirk asked, glancing back at me.

"Turn this car around." I said, without explanation.

"What—"

"Now."

_**A/N: Hi guys! Sorry this is sort of late. I didn't get this done until /just now/. If there are any grammatical errors/typos, I'll go over it again later, which I'll do anyway because I'm paranoid. Not my best work, I'll admit, I guess this week wasn't my best? I'm not too proud of this chapter, but what am I gonna do, right? I can't think of a better way to portray it. Thank you for following an reviewing! I've been excited about the feedback I've gotten thus far. Until next week (or sooner, maybe). Review and/or follow, because that really helps me out! Later, guys.**_

**_-Raiden_**


	5. Favor

The moment I hung that phone, even as he questioned it, Dirk turned around the car, and started heading back towards town.

"Dave, what the _fuck _is going on?" He demanded.

"It's fairly obvious, Dirk." Rose interjected.

"Dave has made an easily avoidable mess out of a simple case."

Rose and I had always had a good relationship, _outside_ of hunting.  
When the two of us were together with nothing to do, we laughed, and talked, and only argued teasingly.

But _on _duty, she became the queen of the bitches.  
Dissing my skills every step of the way, always pointing fingers at me, and for an understandable enough reason.

She constantly downplayed me, in order to make herself look better.

Trying to make me look _so _damn bad, that she came across as a hunting prodigy.

And in all honesty, in any other reality, she wouldn't have to do that.  
She _was_ an amazing hunter, not to mention, a top-notch researcher.

But Dirk, well… he made the choice to see passed that.  
He didn't like to think of Rose out there, head-on against the supernatural. He didn't want her to be infected like he and I were.

Let me clarify.

Dirk and I, we were sick, not physically, but mentally.  
We'd been in the game, for what felt like so fucking long, that we were addicted to it.

We'd dug our own graves, basically dedicated ourselves to the job.

There was almost nothing out there, that would make us turn our backs on it.

But Rose, she'd only been with us for a little over two years.  
And so far, she'd barely had any sort of action.

She'd be our little researcher, and then often times, she'd stay in the car, or stay back at the motel, reading, or surfing the web, no matter how many times she expressed her ability to help.

I wasn't exactly in on Dirk's set up, I was a firm believer in free will.

If Rose wanted to dig her own grave, that was her own choice.

But I wasn't one to try and upstage my brother.

I guess what he was hoping was that, Rose would come of age and sort of just… ditch us, to live some normal, ordinary life.

I think he hoped she would get to a point where she would resent him so much for not letting her even _try, _that maybe someday she'd just say "fuck you guys, I'm out of here", and then, go off to college or some shit. Make something of her life, you know?

I, personally, didn't believe it was the right call entirely, but what are you gonna do?

But this day particularly, I was tired, and 1000% done with any and all BS.

I shot a sharp glare at Rose, and I caught a glance of Dirk raising an eyebrow in his reflection on the rear-view mirror.

"Yeah, okay, I fucked up." I grumbled.

"But everyone can stop looking at me like I'm some deluded jackass, I can take care of this shit, if you just give me one more night, dammit."

"Dude, take a chill pill." Dirk sighed.

"It's an honest mistake, I've made it, Bro has made it, all hunters at one time or another have as well. And you'd know that _Rose_, if you were a _real _hunter."

That comment stunned her silent.

"This is what's going to happen." Dirk broke the silence, after a couple minutes of silent driving.

"I'm gonna drop you back off at the school, and you wrap that shit up ASAP. Rose and I are going to chill back at our motel, and you call as soon as you can, we cool?"

I nodded.

"Yeah."

The rest of the ride, which was only about 40 minutes, was silent.

Rose started reading through another one of those big ass books of hers, (I never understood how she didn't get motion sickness from reading on the road), and Dirk kept his eyes ahead.

Me, on the other hand, I was going through a load of shit in my head trying to figure out what I was going to say to Jade.

Saying good-bye to her was hard enough the first time, and after the case _actually _closed, I was going to have to do it all again.

Fuck, I didn't have any sort of clue why I gave a shit.

Okay, in all honesty, I _did _have a clue, but I didn't like it.

Me caring about her the way that I did, it was selfish.

Yeah, Jade was already kind of involved, but if I were to let _anything _slip, it all would be over. I couldn't let her become more involved than she already was.  
She was the vic, and that's all she could be.

Dirk pulled his car up to the school, once again, and I stepped out.

Without a word, I started off.

"Dave—"

"I know, I know. Call ASAP. I got it."

Dirk chuckled a little.

"I was gonna say "be careful", but whatever floats your boat."

I rolled my eyes behind my shades, and waved, and like that, he was gone again.

I took a deep breath, looking at the school, as if it were for the first time again.

My initial mental response, once again, was that the building was ugly was fuck.

Did people design school buildings to be miserable looking?

I wouldn't put it passed anyone, the world was a fucked up place.  
So, why not have the school's over-all look match the moods of the students.

I strolled back into the building, both bags in hand, I took out the class schedule, and glanced at it, it was just my luck that the class I would have been in at the moment was a class I shared with Jade.

I went down the hall, and went straight to said classroom, where the teacher looked incredibly surprised to see me burst through the door.

"Uhm… Mr. Strider, is it?" She asked.

"You're late,"

I scanned the room, no Jade.

"Pardon me, Ma'am." I said, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"Where is Jade? Jade Harley?"

She looked at me as if I was crazy.

"She took a sick day, and I assumed you had as well, seeing as you never showed."

With that, I turned right around, and left,

"Mr. Strider—"

I strode back down the hall, and out of the school, and right back to the motel where Jade would more than likely be.

I mean, it was where she lived, supposedly, so where else would she be?

I went straight up to the door leading to the room she was staying in, and knocked.

I heard a clatter inside, but no answer.

I knocked louder.

No answer.

It was at that point I started panicking, what if something was wrong?

I banged even louder, and was about ready to attempt kicking down the door.

Just as I started digging through my bag looking for something to pick the lock with, the door swung open, and there was Jade, a baseball bat in hand, and she was fucking _ready_ to swing that shit, by the looks of it.

"Dave—Jesus Christ!" She exclaimed.

"Shit, Jade. I didn't expect a warm welcome, but is that 100% called for?" I remarked, half sarcastic.

She eased up, and set the bat aside.

"Sorry." She grumbled.

"It's just, it could have been—"

"The ghosts?" I interrupted.

"First, they're stuck like goddamn glue to that school, Jade. They can't leave it. Secondly, and more importantly, a bat would have been useless."

She looked annoyed.

"All righty then, Peter Venkman, what would _you_ suggest?"

"Salt."

"Excuse me?"

"Salt, dammit."

She _knew_ that she was being haunted by vengeful spirits and she didn't at the very least google the goddamn repellent?

She still looked confused.

"Okay, here's how it goes. A _lot_ of supernatural things are repelled with salt. If you were to line your doors and windows with the shit, there'd be no chance in hell anything would get through." I educated.

"…_Salt?"_

"Salt."

"So, just…?"

"Yes, _salt."_

She looked at me in awe.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" She exclaimed.

"But it's _true." _I groaned.

"I never said it wasn't." She held up her hands in defeat.

"But just because it's true, doesn't mean it isn't stupid."

"…Ya got me there."

Silence.

We looked at each other for a moment, and a grin crossed her face.

"I didn't think you'd come back." She admitted.

"_Ah, _you wound me Jade." I replied with sarcasm.

"Hey! All you said was "okay, got it", and you hung up! What was I supposed to think?"

"That I'm reliable as fuck, and I'm having my brother turn the car around."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Sorry for doubting you, then."

It dawned on me, right then, that, even as much as I hated to see her involved, I was going to need her help.

The spirits of the bullies didn't appear to just anyone, and she was the only person I knew of that was in contact with said spirits. She was going to have to be the bait.

I looked at her green, cheerful eyes, and I could see she was genuinely happy I had come back.

"_I'm _the one who should be sorry." I told her.

She looked confused.

"Why?"

"Cuz, as much as I hate it, I'm gonna need to ask you a favor."

_**A/N: Ahhh, I'm late! It's almost 1:30, and I'm literally just now finishing editing! So, I'm sorry it's a bit late, but better late than never, right? Okay, my big goal (and I say big lightly) is to reach 30 followers by next week, so if you could please follow or review that would help me a /bunch/! Thanks for reading! **_


	6. Unexpected

I hated myself as soon as the words left my mouth.  
This was it.  
I was cutting it close, I was 90% sure that "slip of the tongue" Dirk had been talking about, had occurred. This was it.  
And if it wasn't, I was a centimeter away from it.

Asking her to help me, was the dumbest, and yet smartest move I could have made.

Smart, because, well, who the fuck else was going to help me? Who the fuck else _could_ help me? She was the only one who I knew personally, who had encountered these spirits, therefore she was the only one out there available.

Dumb, because, having her tag along was basically condemning her to hunting, and that was the last thing that I wanted.

"What sort of favor are we talkin' here?" Jade inquired, breaking me out of my thoughts, and bringing me back to reality.

The reality was, she could just turn around and say "hell no, I'm not helping you with that shit" and it would all be over, which would pretty much make my job a living hell, but at least she'd be safe.

"I need to you come with me tonight, after hours." I informed her.

"Well, obviously I'm coming with you, dumbass!" She retorted, sounding agitated.

"Did you honest-to-god believe that I was going to let you go in there on your own?"

I'd forgotten that she didn't know I was a professional, she assumed I was just an amateur, just jumping in like her, not knowing what the fuck I was doing.

"Yeah, right, sorry." I chuckled a little.

"I guess my heroic side took-over, obviously you were planning on coming all along."

I played it off as if I was just some dorky low-life idiot who had just as much of an idea of what he was doing as she did.

"Damn right." She nodded.

There was a silence between us for a moment, as she seemed as if she was rethinking something.

"Wait… how are we going to get into the school?" She asked.

"It'll be locked for sure."

"Oh, I have my ways." I informed her.

And oh, how I _did_ have my ways.

. . . .

The sun was going down, and it was dawning on me more and more as time went by that I was bringing a damn civilian on this mission. And not as a tag along, but as goddamn bait, I mean, how sick was that? We'd be heading out of the motel and towards the school sooner rather than later. I eyed my bag, which contained my gun cases, and my salt, and I continued to eye it, knowing that I would need to snap in half her cookie-cutter image of me at some point, and that point, well, it was getting there.

I prayed to fucking god she wouldn't be a terrible shot, on the side of, hoping she wouldn't be too feisty. To be completely blunt, I wanted to get her inside a salt circle, and _keep_ her there, I couldn't be thinking about her out there in the open with these three rogue spirits on the loose. I knew for a fact that she would be unhappy upon knowing my plans for her.

But, seeing as my plan was to try and corner one of the ghosts and get him into a salt circle to interrogate him as to what, and where the cursed objects were.

See, that's where I'd screwed up before.  
I'd made the assumption that burning the bodies would settle it all, which in some cases, it would have. But in others, (i.e. this situation) not so much.

Burning the bodies would usually put the spirits to rest, but sometimes, the ghosts would be attached to something else, that once belonged to them during their time of life.

For example, I remembered clearly Dirk and I had this case, in which this chick's sister was appearing randomly, upon being dead for three years, and we burned the body, but that hadn't stopped her from finding her way back to her younger sister.

As it all turned out, the older sister had attached herself to a locket she'd given her little sister while she was still living, which the younger girl never took off, and she was using _that_ to haunt her.

Things like that never started off with bad intentions, the spirit of the dead one wouldn't be ready to let go, therefore, wouldn't pass on, in that case, she had wanted to stay with her sister, which sounded innocent enough, but as time goes by, spirits can, and most of the time will become twisted, therefore, what started off as innocent interactions with her sister took a turn and suddenly the younger sibling was in all _sorts _of danger.

This, I assumed, was the case with the jocks.

Only, said jocks had been dipshits in the first place. So I didn't want to imagine an already twisted spirit becoming more twisted over time. It was a horrifying thought, which was why I wanted Jade in her little circle of protection, so that I could quickly get the location of said objects so that I could be rid of the spirits for good.

Hopefully the argument that I needed her to watch my back whilst I interrogate the ghost would be good enough, hopefully, because not only would her standing in a salt circle with a shotgun make her 100% safe, but I sure as hell was going to have a tough enough time trapping _one_ ghost. She'd have to stay behind me salt-rounds ready, to take down the other two upon their appearances.

"Dave? Why the hell do you keep looking at your bag like that?" She asked, sounding amused.

I turned to look at her, she had her long raggedy hair pulled back in a messy bun, and her arms were crossed as she looked at me curiously.

"I don't suppose you know how to shoot a gun, do you?" I asked, bluntly.

"I—" She cut herself off to give me an odd look, then shook her head.

"I do, but I thought you said common weapons wouldn't do anything against ghosts, anyway."

"Under normal circumstances, that'd be absolutely right." I told her.

"Regular bullets won't do a damn thing, but I'm not talkin' regular bullets."

She tilted her head, as if to question me without voicing her confusion.

Without anyway warnings, I opened my bag, getting out the case that held one of my guns, and typed in the combination quickly.

I loaded it with my precious salt rounds, and turned the safety on.

"Salt rounds," I told her.

She stared at me, looking in awe for a moment before her expression turned normal again.

"Not that I'm not impressed, Dave, but I'm forced to question your motives, seeing as you're a teenager, carrying a goddamn _shotgun." _

At this point, any other person would be more than fucking serious, voicing their concerns about a teenage boy with a gun, but Jade, at this point, still had a tint of amusement hidden in the back of her tone.

"I get around," I said, dodging the question in a subtle way, before handing Jade the shotgun.

"Can you shoot?"

"Yeah," She nodded, taking hold of the gun, and adjusting it against her shoulder, as if she were actually planning to shoot.

"My Grandpa taught me how to shoot way back when, it was just for fun, strange to think it's actually going to be worth something."

"Okay, listen." I started, ready to rant off my plans to her before we left the motel.

"When we get there, I want you to wander around, as if it's all fine and fucking dandy, pretend you forgot something in your locker or some shit, I don't care, just be natural. Upon the appearance of one, or multiple spirits, I want you to take the salt, which I'm going to give you shortly, and make a circle around yourself, and you _stay_ in that fucking circle, you got that?" I started.

"Great, so you're basically just using me for bait, and then you plan to make me watch you fuck up from the sidelines? I don't think so." She retorted.

I left out an aggravated sound, before continuing.

"No, Jade, you don't get it, do you? I don't just want you in the shitty circle so that you'll be _safe_ I need you safe, so that you can cover my back. I'm gonna toss you the shotgun, that'll be full with the rounds, and you'll have a couple of spare rounds on you, for when you run out."

She furrowed her brows, looking more confused about the plan than ever.

"But I don't understand, why would you need me to cover your back?"

I sighed.

"All right, it's a lot to explain, but I need to _interrogate _ one of the ghosts, I need him to fess up about the damn objects they're all attached to so I can burn them once and for all, I'm nearly 1000% sure that I won't be able to corner all _three_ of them, hell, it's gonna be tough cornering just one of them. So therefore, I _need_ you to shoot down the others, keep them away from me so that I can get the inside information."

She thought about it for a moment, taking it all in, despite her annoyance.

"Yeah," She nodded.

"Yeah, I think I can do that."

A trace of a smile touched my lips as I nodded as well.

"Then let the games begin."

. . .

The look of shock she gave me when I so effortlessly picked the lock and easily walked through the front door of the school, was priceless.

She looked like she wanted to question me more than anything, but she zipped her lips as the two of us entered the dark school.

"This is so weird," She commented, whispering under her breath.

"School is almost…creepy this late at night."

"Well, the damn place _is_ haunted." I said.

She giggled a little, feeling around for a light switch, she quickly found it, switching it on, and then she put an arm in front of me to stop me in my tracks before the two of us could go around the corner.

"Let me go, okay? They're more likely to approach if they think I'm alone."

I nodded, backing down, and letting her go around the corner by herself.

As soon as she crossed that line (that line being around the corner) she was out of my sight, and I just had to hope nothing too drastic occurred during my time in the dark.

Everything was silent for awhile.

I heard Jade open her locker, and quietly she was humming something, though I couldn't quite make out what the tune was, seeing as I was too far off, and she was too quiet.

_"Boo." _

An unknown voice came out of nowhere, instantly making my heart pound, as I couldn't see what was going on at the moment, and _anything_ could happen.

"Really? Are you seriously that fucking cliché?" Jade demanded, seeming more annoyed, and I jumped out from behind the corner to see Jade going for the salt I'd given her, and within another glance, I caught sight of the tall spirit, who looked no more intimidating than an everyday jock, well, I mean, other than the fact that he was a _fucking ghost._

Jade, like had said, had sprung for the salt, but instead putting the circle around herself, like I'd instructed, she lunged right forward, quickly, surprising the ghost, and trapping _him. _

"Jade!" I voiced my concern, as I was startled that she'd done that, if the spirit had caught it two seconds earlier, she could have gotten herself hurt , or worse. But just her luck, there he was, trapped in her little circle looking stunned.

"Dammit Jade, get in your circle, _now." _Venom thick in my voice, as I was quite petrified by how quickly everything was going down, one slip up, and someone, whether it would be Jade, or me, would be done for.

"Gosh!" She retorted, taking paces back before forming her own circle, and climbing in it.

"A simple "thanks for catching the damn thing, Jade, I owe you one" would have sufficed."

I was too preoccupied to argue with her, so I wordlessly tossed the shotgun her way, holding my own in my hand, pointing it directly at the trapped ghost.

"Who are you?" The ghost demanded loudly.

"I take it you've not come across many hunters, have you?" I asked, knowing the answer.

This was a pretty basic hunt. If anyone else had caught glance of this in the past, the spirits of these boys would already been gone.

He ignored what I'd said, and smirked.

"That fucking gun isn't gonna do a thing, you know?"

As one of his buddies appeared to his aid, Jade quickly retorted to that statement.

"I wouldn't be so sure," She smirked, before shooting her gun, directly hitting the ever approaching ghost.

_Damn,_ she was spot on. Direct hit.

The spirit's eyes filled with horror as his buddy screamed and faded away (temporarily).

"What the hell did you do?" He demanded.

"How about we skip the goddamn game of 20 questions, and just cut to the real chase, huh?" I said.

The other jock must have appeared and attempted to sneak up behind me, as, Jade fired her gun again, followed by another scream.

"What's keeping you all here?" I asked.

"Heh!" He laughed.

"To hell with that shit, like I'd tell _you." _

You know, I think I preferred the usual roaring, hissing, and screaming of the typical ghosts I fought, coming across one with a big mouth on him, wore my patience quickly.

"Why don't you just save us the trouble and cough up the location of the objects?" I asked, patience thinning.

"You really would rather stay here and torment dweebs forever?"

"What's it to you, big-shot?" He hissed.

"You used a dweeb as bait for us, didn't you? You're no different from us. You're using her, right?"

I was about to retort, but before I could, Jade did it for me.

"You shut the fuck _up!" _She screamed, snapping in the moment, as she raised her gun, and shot it in the snarky ghost's direction.

I realized in the moment, that she fucked up. Right before the shot was about to hit him, I knew, that he'd disappear and then reappear outside the salt circle.

He screamed, and disappeared.

I whirled around.

"Jade, what the hell?" I shouted.

"Do you even know what the fuck you just did?"

She looked horrified, as she realized too late what she had done.

"Oh god…" She muttered.

"Do you want to watch me get trampled by a pack of rogue jocks? Is that why you tagged along?" I went on, mostly just ranting my thoughts, as I my emotions were everywhere, mixed with the overall rush, and then anger, as she hadn't been thinking.

She looked so ashamed of herself for a moment, but then her face lit up out of nowhere.

"Dave, that's it! Jocks!" Jade said, suddenly, as if she'd just realized they were jocks.

"Yes, Jade." I said, dully.

"We've established the fact that they're jocks."

"No, you moron, there's this little memorial on display for the dead students from the incident, I'm almost 100% sure that their football uniforms are on display, that's gotta be it! That's gotta be the objects you're looking for!"

All at once before I could respond, the, now incredibly angry spirits appeared all around me.

Before I could tell her no, Jade stepped carelessly outside of her circle. And snatched up my bag that had all my supplies in it, lighter, and light fluid included, and took off down the hall.

"Jade, wait!" I called after her, dismayed by the fact that she'd left the safety of the circle.

Upon seeing her run in that direction, one ghost disappeared, no doubt following Jade, and as I was caught off guard as it was, I found myself being knocked to the ground by the other two ghosts that were in front of me, shotgun knocked out of my hands and all.

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I struggled, and tried to retaliate, but they had me cornered.

As idiotic as it was, I wasn't worrying about my own life at the moment. Only the fact that Jade was a ways down the hall, totally unprepared to fight with a ghost, and on her _own._

The two of the surrounded me, chanting taunting words that I half ignored, as my thoughts were running wild.  
In that moment, I thought I was done for, but, as if on cue, the ghosts began to scream.

They both screamed in pain, and one chanting about how he was sorry, and the other's screams in pain were mixed with a last minute plea of "please no I don't want to go to hell", which was disturbing to say the least.

I blinked, and the both of them were on fire, simmering away to almost nothing.

I watched in awe as the two of them disappeared before my eyes, their screams and pleads for mercy disappearing along with their remains. I knew right then, that Jade had done it. She'd cracked the case, and even made her way down the hall with a goddamn killer ghost on her tail, and _still_ managed to burn the objects, therefore, putting the ghosts to rest.

Damn.

I mostly owed the credit of this hunt to a civilian.

Realizing I was still sitting on the floor, I rose, slightly shaken from the close call, and then took off down the hallway towards Jade.

"Jade!" I shouted.

"Jade, oh my god, you—"

I cut myself off, stopping dead in my tracks.

The first thing I noticed was the broken glass which had been from the now broken display case, second thing I noticed was the missing uniforms which had been stolen and burned, and third, and most important thing I noticed in that small instant, was Jade.

Laying on the floor, eyes closed, and still.

_**A/N: Hello friends, guess who is still here and not on hiatus after all. Sorry about that scare... ;o; I really /did/ want to take a break, but, I figured I at least owe you the ending to this story. (The story ends in two chapters by the way) sorry, I knew from the start that this story would be short.  
**__**Anyway, this sequence didn't go down exactly the way I wanted, but I hope you guys still found it intriguing enough. Sorry this chapter came so late. Thank you for all the follows/positive reviews! They have really helped me to continue, and now I'm back in the swing of it. See you all next Thursday! Review and/or follow if you have the time, because it really helps. (also I'd like to get 50 followers before the ending).  
**_


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